Meet Greg Van Borssum and Joe Williams. They don’t just talk about suicide prevention, they live it. Every day.

In March of 2016, I had the opportunity to serve as a Social Media Ambassador for the National Council on Behavioral Health at their annual conference. NatCon16 brought together almost 5,000 mental and behavioral health specialists for dozens of talks, presentations, poster displays and, most importantly, the chance to connect. As a Social Media Ambassador, my job was to capture my unique perspective on the event and share it via social media. As I wandered through the exhibition halls I met dozens of software companies, pharma representatives, educational training firms and workplace wellness programs.

Turning down an aisle I heard voices with “not from around here” accents belonging to Australians Greg Van Borssum and Joe Williams. When you meet Greg and Joe it’s easy to make a false assumption. What you see are strong, chipper, intelligent men who were successful professional athletes. What you don’t see is their struggle with mental illness and suicidal thoughts. Being at #NatCon16 gave them the opportunity to take their suicide prevention through inspiration message to a larger audience.

This podcast episode took place in the Exhibition Hall of NatCon16, a very lively space with lots of great conversations happening all around us. Our interview competes with a bit of background noise but both Greg and Joe were very eloquent in their thoughts so I’m sure you would mind a bit of hubbub.

When faced with the challenge of encouraging more members of the Australian Private Hospitals Association to utilize social media, Marketing Director Lisa Ramshaw went right to the top – to the CEOs. She faced many questions and concerns from the CEOs about hospitals participating in social media. Her response was to team up with some fellow marketers to get CEOs to try social media with a Twitter profile. To educate them, these social media evangelists went “old school” and wrote a book! A really little book titled “Don’t Be an Egg-Head” which explained the basics of having and using a Twitter account.

Our discussion also included Lisa’s recent recognition as a Mayo Clinic Silver Social Media Fellow status and the project that led to it. We also discussed healthcare marketing for the Australian Private Hospitals Association and some very effective marketing campaigns including; “The Elephant if the Room,” a mental health initiative.

Twitter basics for hospitals and healthcare organisations

Follow our conversation below:[00:00] Introduction[00:28] Meet Lisa Ramshaw, Director of Marketing & Communications for the Australian Private Hospitals Association[01:35] Meeting at Mayo Social Media Week[02:27] Welcoming Healthcare community[03:02] Australian Healthcare[04:08] How many private hospitals are there?[04:52] Does Australia have something like HIPAA[05:25] Can’t use a patient testimonial[06:45] Does the APHA have an opinion on social media?[08:29] “Don’t be an Egg-head”[11:15] 400 copies of “Bringing a Social Media Revolution to Healthcare”[12:25] Training at a 101 lv[24:00] from Michigan to Australia to Mayo and back again[24:30] Silver Fellow Award[25:00] Mayo Social Media Network heads to OZ[26:20] Advice to enter social media